[TheForge] Making a Shovel

[Bob Ehrenberger]

The customer is a civil war suttler. He wants it to be an accurat
reproduction thinking that he could sell them to the reenacters that are
concerned about authensity. I'm thinking that it will be too expensive, but
some people seem to have money to burn.

I went to the barn and looked over my shovels and discovered that more than
expected were one piece where the handle socket is rolled from the same
piece as the blade.  Virtually all the scoops were this way and about half
of the long handled shovels.  The trenching spades all had welded sockets.

Robert Ehrenberger
Shelbyville, Mo.
eforge at centurytel.net


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chris Worsley" <cpworsley at cox.net>
To: "Bob Ehrenberger" <eforge at centurytel.net>; "Sponsored by ABANA"
<theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Monday, August 28, 2006 3:42 PM
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Making a Shovel


How important is this? Is the shovel going into a museum, or perhaps a
historical site where someone will lecture on the making of Civil War
shovels in detail?
One thing you could do is try to get the seller of the shovel on ebay to
send you a picture of the back of the blade. He has no buyers as of now
and might do it if you sound interested.
Otherwise I would just  forge weld a socket on the back and rivit the
handle in place.
If forge welding thin stock is a problem, mig it, put it in the fire and
hammer till it looks like the 1860's.

Chris

Bob Ehrenberger wrote:

>Chris,
>
>Thanks for the link.  The problem is that this picture, like most pictures
>I've located, doesn't show the critical part of the shovel, ie: how is the
>handle attached.   This one shows that there is some sort of a socket for
>the handle but was the socket forged from the same piece of steel that the
>blade was or was it welded on? Is there a support on the back side?  Most
>modern shovels seem to have a plate spot welded to the back to help support
>the handle.
>
>Robert Ehrenberger
>Shelbyville, Mo.
>eforge at centurytel.net
>
>----Original Message----
>Date: Sun, 27 Aug 2006 10:58:43 -0700
>From: Chris Worsley <cpworsley at cox.net>
>Subject: Re: [TheForge] Making a Shovel
>
>Here is one on ebay:
>http://cgi.ebay.com/Civil-War-Period-D-Handle-Shovel_W0QQitemZ130019996929Q
QcmdZViewItem
>
>If you are looking for a fireplace shovel, look in Sonn's book Early
>American Wrought Iron.
>
>Google 'civil war shovel'  under Images and get another picture.
>Instructions: Make it look just like the pictures.
>
>Chris
>
>
>